This Is The Day...Rejoice In It

I never want my blog to be a place where people visit and then leave feeling down. Yesterday's post is still on me like a wet, wool sweater. It is heavy. I have had wonderful responses, and I believe most of you have understood the meaning in The Face Of Trauma posts.
Some, however, have been offended by my post and feel I have exposed Charlotte in a bad way. Please understand these posts are not about Charlotte. They are about shining a light on child abuse. They are not meant to horrify and make you gasp, though the thought of any child being abused should make you gasp. I have actually shared very little detail about Charlotte. If you read the posts, they are overall information shared to give an understanding of the trauma many children suffer and then carry into adulthood. I am too sensitive to one person thinking I am myself abusive.
Today is a new day. I am taking off the heaviness and replacing it with rejoicing, for today belongs to God!

The tree in my front yard is "flaming"! What a beautiful sight it is. All of my inpatients are gone...yes, I know I referred to them as begonias...thanks Joni! We had our first HARD frost and they died overnight. It's ok, as they could not compete with the glory of that flaming tree!

I went to breakfast this morning with my Mom. What a wonderful time we had. We went shopping too. Mom needed to run into Hancock's for some more embroidery projects. She bought 2 table scarfs and a set of pillowcases. She also bought a little silk floral arrangement. They saw her coming...it was so ugly, but she says she only paid 1/2 price. Really??!! There is a great bookstore next door so I skipped Hancocks...GASP!...yes, I skipped a fabric store. Really, I was planning a special evening for the kids and I knew the coveted (by my kids) Veggie Tale movie was in there. It is called "The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's!" A play on the Wizard of Oz and the story of the Prodigal Son.

Tonight we will all watch and eat home made pizza and a special (store-bought) dessert. My time in the book store was so refreshing. A small part of the day all to myself, just to look around. They had new rocks with wonderful sayings on them. Remember, I love talking rocks...though I did not get any. I did find a wonderful bag. Yes, I know I can make them now, but this one spoke to me....

I also found this great travel mug for 1/2 off!! Yes, I have some of my mother in me! But my 1/2 off find was not ugly. It would not have been my first choice, as there were many beautiful travel mugs, but for 1/2 off, you are not quite so choosy. It says "GRACE" "For the Lord God is our Light and Protector. He gives us grace and glory." Psalm 84:11 And it fits the cup holder in my van!

Today is Wednesday, which is like our family Saturday, since Sweet Hubby is home, and we have a light home school day. Our home needed a major clean, especially the upstairs.

I put flannel sheets on my bed and on Zachary's. Charlotte already put flannels on her bed yesterday. Tuesday is "change the bedding" day and she remembered. I blew it off. Anyway, we will all be toasty warm tonight. I am feeling not quite sure about that as I go to bed freezing and wake up later very warm (putting it nicely). The ceiling fan in my bedroom is turned on and off more than once during the night. Oh, these glorious years of mid life!!!

Sweet Hubby is spending the day doing final, end of the year yard clean up. He not only pulled up the inpatients and trimmed back the hosta, but he cleaned out the garden, also. He took the pool down a while back, but you can still see evidence of it! He is mowing both the front and back yards. We plan to stay busy the rest of the afternoon so we can all relax this evening. Kyle will sit out front on the porch and pass out candy to the trick or treaters. He loves to do this and it helps that the door bell does not ring constantly. After an hour or so, we will turn off the lights outside and be done. All the little kids come and go early. After that it is older kids and I am ready to be done. We live in a large subdivision, so we get LOTS of kids coming through. My kids will be thrilled with the movie and pizza..both the regular and fruit pizza!

I will start making my preparations for Thanksgiving very soon. I have a large family dinner here. About 25 people show up. This year, I want to do it a little differently. I will share all my plans for another post. Have a blessed Oct. 31st...It belongs to the Lord!!

Courageous Blogger

Sweet Mummy gave me this awesome award. I am so touched, as the reason she gave me this award has been a huge step of faith for me. I certainly did not feel courageous when I pressed the "publish now" button on The Face Of Trauma post. My heart was pounding and my hand was shaking. Maybe it is courageous to go ahead and do something in the face of fear. Thank you Sweet Mummy for my award. I did not link back to her blog as it is private. If I get her permission I will come back and change that. Here is what she wrote about me.

Bren - Over at Pieces from Me, Bren has also been very brave to share the stories of raising children born of difficult circumstances. She's a relatively new blog friend for me. She said right away that she knows the people who are moved by her story have been brought to her blog by the Lord. She is real about how hard it has been and continues to be, and about the fact that she needs prayer warriors to surround her on this journey. I have enjoyed getting to know her. Check out all of her blog, but this is the first story of hers that I read... WOW!

Now for the award rules!
Award Rules

1) If you have received an award simply choose either the dark or light background image (from Writer's Reviews website) and save it to your files, then post it proudly on your blog!

2) Pass the award on to five other people, you can choose any of the awards from the series (there are 5 awards to choose from), you do not have to pass out the exact award you received. Choose whichever of the awards below that you'd like to give out. You can give out one of each or five of the same one, whatever you prefer.

3) You can change the size and color of awards to suit your blog, that's up to you, it's your blog, just leave the titles the same.

4) Please link back to the original post so that people can read these rules and so that the meanings of the awards will not be lost.

5) If you feel that you or a friend are deserving of an award and no one has given one to you yet then email Christy Z, the award originator, at sayhitochristy@hotmail.com and tell me about your website.

I like this, because I can choose from 5 awards and hand them out to 5 different people. I read such a variety of blogs and I am excited there are a variety of awards.

First I want to pass out the Thoughtful Blogger Award. This goes to :

Nadine. She is about the most thoughtful person I have ever had the pleasure to know. If you comment that you like something on her blog, you can bet the pattern will be in the mail the same day! What a sweetheart she is!

Next is the Creative Blogger Award. I give this one to:

Rose. As the owner of Threadbare Creations, she is always designing beautiful quilt patterns and embroidery designs. Her daughter Maddi carries her mother's creative gene too, so she can share this award!

Then we have the Inspirational Blogger Award. There are SO many I could give this too, and some of you already have it., but I will give this award to:

Coppers Wife. Not just because she inspires me, but if you read her comments, she is a huge inspiration to all her readers. Inspiration comes in all forms. She covers it all!

Next is the Charity Blogger Award. There are so many bloggers out there giving of themselves and their talents. I know a blogger who gives to a mission in my own home town. I give this award to :

PorchRocker. She makes "heartstrings" quilts for our local homeless mission. You are a wonderful giving soul JT!

And finally the Courageous Blogger Award. I give this to my dear friend,

Linda. She has shared her heart on more than one occasion. She has graciously put herself out there, the good, the bad and the ugly (though she is a BEAUTIFUL woman). She has shared several post that earn her this award, but her post titled Friendships: Mail Delivery is the one that I think of when giving her this award.

Congratulations Ladies. You are more than deserving.

Silly Saturday

So I could not wait to put up this blessed post until Monday. What a fun, silly day I had. I suppose fun is relative...I started my Saturday waking up after only 3 hours sleep. Carly (our dog) was sick in the night and I was just UP. I think I took a nap this morning while the kids watched a movie. If I did it was so brief, I did not miss anything in the plot. I got up, showered, and made myself a cup of coffee. I had already had 3 cups of the real (caffeine) coffee pot brewed stuff before Sweet Hubby left for work. I LOVE these coffee bags. I was sure I could get 2 cups out of one bag, but that second one is pretty wimpy. It is just nice to make one cup instead of a whole pot. I decided I would make that big roaster chicken I picked up at the store last week. I had thrown it in the frig instead of the freezer as I had planned to cook it right away. Hmmm, Oct. 25th was the sell by date. OK, I am very weird when it comes to meat and poultry. The bird idea flew off, but I knew I wanted to make Niki's homemade buns no matter what we have for dinner. I mixed all the ingredients as her tutorial showed. Hmmm (I did that alot today)...I am use to putting 2 cups of flour in my bread maker (remember I use this servant to mix and knead) and this recipe calls for 4 1/4 cups. WOW, I will have a lot of buns!! After 150 minutes of mixing, kneading and rising and kneading again, I opened my bread maker to a HUGE mess. The dough and flour were everywhere. I did not get a picture before I pulled the dough out as I was almost panicked to get it out of there. Now, Niki has some great pics of her bun making and her hands look so nice and clean through out the whole process. I am still scraping dough off my knuckles hours later! I am certain I did something wrong along the way but I am determined to move on. I form my dough balls...or whatever you call these things that look NOTHING like Niki's. I am not kidding...it would not make a ball. See the dough stuck to my hands? That was with flour on my hands too! Oh my gosh, I crack up again just looking at those ugly things!! I set my timer to 45:00 for the rise. I take a picture for all of you to PROVE I am following the directions, pop them in the oven covered with a towel, light on, just like Niki says. I throw in The Newsboys "Adoration" CD, pump up the volume (the kids are outside) and move along with my day. The last song played and I thought, Hmmmm (see I did it again)...that CD is longer than 45 minutes. I go to look at the timer and it still says....Yep, I forgot to press "start". I pull them out and they actually look like giant versions of Niki's. Now I am laughing. No one else is there to share how totally comical this is! I mix the egg bath and then wonder if she said 1 egg or 1 egg white. Hmmm...I can NOT run up stairs and look because these things could take over the entire kitchen by the time I get them in the oven! I go with 1 egg, sprinkle 1/2 of them with sesame seeds, and call it done. I throw them in the oven, set the timer for 25 minutes, do NOT take a picture and press "START"!! The house filled with a wonderful aroma and I ended up with these beautiful LARGE buns. Now I have had such a tickle out of the whole process and have laughed out loud on more than one occasion. I had such fun e-mailing Niki and cracking up with her. I sent her a final e-mail to tell her the buns looked great and it was time to go vacuum out my bread machine. I got an e-mail back with her telling me to be careful not to damage the machine or vacuum. Well there was no way that was going to happen, as I use my attachment to get down in there. As I am cleaning out all the flour that had been thrown during the initial mix, I smelled an awful burning smell and saw smoke coming up from my vacuum cleaner. Hmmmm...I shut it off and looked down to find the towel I had thrown over my shoulder earlier was now sucked ALL the way into the vacuum!!!! How did you KNOW Niki??? Oh my goodness, I have never laughed so much and so hard all by myself! Either it really was all that comical, or I was SO tired, I would have laughed at anything! The best part was, those buns were AWESOME!! They have a great sweetness to them and the texture is great. My Sweet Hubby LOVED them and the kids raved. If anyone wants to give this a try and see if Niki is just this incredibly apt baker, or if it was ME...you can find the recipe at this post. She also posted a bun recipe for Ranch Buns on the same page. Let me know how it goes for you. My kids are asking me what is so funny as I am in my office by myself laughing. By the way, I ended up making Spaghetti to go with those excellent buns.

As for quilting, my pink and brown has been neglected for at least a week. I have been a book worm, and that is ok. I need to get going on my Thanksgiving projects. I want to make a table runner and matching napkins for Thanksgiving dinner. That means 24 napkins. Also, I am planning on jumping in on an apron swap that is starting soon...I hope. I will tell you for sure once it is announced!

I am also working on my next installment of The Face of Trauma. I plan to post it on Tuesday. Pray for me where this is concerned as this is a tough one. I am not sure how much to share, so I need to be prayerful about it.

It is a little after 9 PM here. Hmmmm (that is the last one, I promise)...is it too early to go to bed?? I will leave you all with this. Have a blessed Sunday!

Faithful Friday

Friday is always faithful to show up. It seems to be the day most people look forward to, like a friend coming to visit. My Friday has been busy so far. Cleaning, laundry, groceries, school, and, in a minute here, a quick break with the kids. They are watching a documentary called "Saving Sharks" and then we will watch "Surf's Up" together. TJ is here for a few hours, though he is napping right now. What a sweet little guy he is. I caught him drawing in my book and said "TJ, Don't write in Grandma's book." He threw the pencil behind him and looked at his doodle saying "Oh No, Grandma, what happened?!" You know I would not erase that doodle for anything!!
The top picture is the tree in my front yard. It is well on it's way to becoming a flaming red spectacle. I will get a better picture when it is in all it's glory. My begonia's are showing signs of fall too. The edges are turning white and they are looking weak. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I plan to spend tomorrow working around my home and baking rolls, courtesy of Niki. I will show pics on Monday. For now, the shark documentary is over and my laundry needs to be switched around. Just like Friday is always faithful to show up, God is faithful to show up, also like a Friend. Just a bit of encouragement for myself and for you. God Bless your weekend!

"Your Pride Prohibits You"

What an awesome reminder that He is there to direct us when we are not quite sure where to go. Now most of us see only the last part of that verse....He will direct your path. Do not forget the first part. It tells us that He will direct our path if we trust in Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, not leaning on what we know and understand. I forget that part alot and then ask "Why am I over here when He should have me over there?" It is because I did not acknowledge Him, nor lean on Him, instead of what I know. Very recently, God told me "Your pride prohibits you." Now, most of you know that I am pretty hard on myself and that can appear as humility. It is infact PRIDE. I focus so much on myself and my short comings that I do not acknowledge HIS ways. How can you acknowledge Him if you are so busy focused on how you could do better here or there? Anytime the focus is "self" there is pride involved. Now that is not to say that taking time to reflect on self is prideful...no, it is responsible, but to put the focus there is a matter of pride. Through this second journey of parenting, I have spent many hours dwelling on what I could do better, where I am failing, how I can "fix" things. All the while I was leaning on my own understanding. Notice all the "I"'s? I, I, I!!! God has brought me to the realization that He did not place these children here because I am this awesome knowledge filled Mother who is to be the salvation of these poor pitiful orphans. No. He placed them here because He wanted them in a place with a Godly woman who would become an empty vessel in which He could work. He shared this with me as I spent 20 minutes on my hands and knees on a dirty bathroom floor. I did start out washing it, but during my time down there I began to cry out to God. Through that conversation came, "Your pride prohibits you." I empty myself of the pride that fed my mind, telling me a mantra of "You ARE a good mother. You ARE a good mother...." I want to be that empty vessel that God fills up daily with what my children need, and their needs are unique only in the fact that their spirits are unique. So this day, I trust in the Lord, and I lean not on my own understanding. I acknowledge Him in ALL my ways and, because of this, He DOES direct my path.

Tackle It Tuesday

Today's tackle is not yet done, but is on the list for today. On Sunday, it was sunny and 80 degrees. Yesterday it was rainy and only in the low 50's. Today is sunny and will be somewhere in the 60's. It is that crazy change of season. Today, I prepare for winter. Our fireplace has a gas log, though it does burn real wood if we choose. A gas log is very clean and easy, though once a year it is a huge mess. Today is that day. I will take the logs out and check to see if all 3 layers of "bedding" are sufficient and clean. First is a layer of sand, then in the middle is this fluffy wool type material which causes a burning embers effect. The last layer goes around all of this and is tiny lava rock. Oh, the wonders of a fake/real fire! The outside of the fireplace gets a deep clean also. I am starting something new in my Tackle It Tuesdays...one tackle will be a "job" that needs to be done, and a second one will actually be more of a challenge, but it is also a need. I will tackle some time for myself, with or with out a child involved. Today's involves NO children. Wicked? I'm not sure, but I will take some time away from household chores, which for today include, laundry, baking bread, dust and vacuuming the lower level (after the fireplace is cleaned) and kitchen cleaning. I did little or no housework yesterday, as I was helping a friend set up her new blog. I will introduce her to you once it is all set up. OK, so today's "time tackle" is to spend at least an hour reading. Not a children's book, or a 1800 themed novel, but a book of substance. I received 3 from Amazon yesterday and will choose one and plan to complete it within a week. I will let you know how that goes. It will cut into my quilting time, but I feel it is important for me. Plus the cleaned out fireplace will provide the perfect ambiance for reading and a cup of coffee. To see what others are tackling today, or to join in on the tackle fun, go here. I want to welcome a new blogger to the block. Her blog is called Drucilla's Stitches. She is a home schooler and a quilter. Pop over to say welcome. I look forward to reading about her quilting and home school adventures. She is basting a queen size log cabin and wanted some advice...as a thread baster I can not help her. Though, you did mention, Drucilla, that you may send it out to be quilted, which means you may not have to baste it at all! And to answer your comment about "being fast" at hand quilting...not at all. If you look at my posts regularly, and you can ask my readers, I rarely have anything to show unless I do a stitchery or a "portion" of my queen size quilt. I am planning to start my winter installment of the 4 seasons swap very soon and with the Christmas gifts I have planned I will be able to show more very soon. We are studying the fruit of the Spirit in our home school. I found this, but to be honest I can not remember where. I thought it was a wonderful reminder of the fruits that God wants us all to bear. One of the things that I am sharing with my children is that these are fruits OF THE SPIRIT. You can have them on your own, to a degree, but when they are truly working in your life from the Spirit of God, they are perfect. May we yield ourselves to His Spirit and bear His fruit today. (grab the fruit and pass it on!)